HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – fight

HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – design and build

From the front, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the HTC One for a Z10 (or an iPhone 5 for that matter). Turn the phones around, though, and the difference becomes clear – the HTC One sports a premium-looking curved unibody aluminium frame, ranging in thickness from 4mm to 9.3mm. The Z10's plastic and textured rubber finish is a little less impressive on first inspection, though it doesn't feel cheap, and you might also prefer the extra grip afforded by its rubber back.

HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – screen

The HTC One joins the Sony Xperia Z in the 1080p display club, with a 4.7in screen that offers a staggering 448ppi. The BlackBerry Z10 has a smaller 4.3in 1280x768 screen, delivering 356ppi. In practice, both screens are razor sharp, beautifully rendering crisp text and crystal clear videos. The Z10's screen does look dwarfed next to the One's though – and it'll be a little too small for media junkies. If you have impish hands though, it'll treat your thumbs and fingers rather nicely.

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HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – power

The HTC One packs a beastly 1.7Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, which should chew through Android's apps, games and Sense with ease. The BlackBerry Z10 has a slightly slower 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon processor, but BlackBerry 10 also runs buttery smooth with snappy game and app transitions. Both phones have 2GB of RAM, but there's no denying the appeal of the One's quad-core heart for spec fiends with one eye on the future.

HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – camera

Although the Z10 doesn't have the best smartphone camera we've tested, it produces good shots in bright light and its Time Shift feature (which lets you select people's best face) is really quite useful. The HTC One, on the other hand, sticks one finger up to conventional smartphone snappers with its 4MP UltraPixel snapper – which captures a claimed 300 per cent more light than conventional camera sensors. In practice this could give the One an edge over its competitors – but we'll have to wait on our full, in-depth review to see if the fancy tech pays off.

HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – OS

BlackBerry is pinning its hopes on the new BlackBerry 10 OS – it's a massive upgrade, featuring intutive gesture controls and a BlackBerry Hub that aggregates all your texts, e-mails and social network messages in one place. BlackBerry claims to have 70,000 apps in its BlackBerry World app store, but key apps like Google Maps, YouTube and Netflix have yet to put in an appearance on the platform. The HTC One sticks with tried and trusted Android, overlaid with HTC's Sense skin. The latest upgrade to Sense is BlinkFeed, which adds a homescreen featuring updates from social media, the One's TV app and specially-formatted news feeds – it's a great feature that provides an at-a-glance view of your world.

HTC One vs BlackBerry Z10 – initial verdict

The HTC One and the BlackBerry Z10 are very different beasts. If you're after an Android phone then the One is one of the best around, on raw specs alone. If, however, you're feeling adventurous and want to dive into new waters, then the BlackBerry 10 OS-toting Z10 could be your answer – assuming apps aren't all that important to you. If you can't live without certain key apps, though, then the HTC One is a no-brainer purchase over the BlackBerry Z10.